Elemental

Chapter Eleven

The earth section was very large and had a whole lot more people than fire who were training in it. Earth had about thirty-five people. Fire had about twenty. Water and air held about thirty people each. There were tall trees towering above Jade and flowers covering the ground.

Jade saw one person who was bending into a tree and moving around. She was like a chameleon. Another had a whole herd of deer following him. Jade found Flora sitting on a bench under a honeysuckle tree feeding birds.

"Hi, Flora. Whatcha doing?" Jade asked with a smile. Odd, she thought to herself, most of my new friends are 15 and 16.

"I'm taking a break from training. Birds need to eat, too. Why are you here? Are you an earth element?" Flora smiled excitedly as she tossed more feed to the birds.

"Well, I have a feeling that I might be. I'm not branched from fire. I'm a gardener and my father was a farmer. I love nature and such. How can I find out if I'm earth?" Jade asked Flora.

"Hm," Flora made a thoughtful face and stood up, causing her curly red hair to bounce. "Let me see your hand, Jade." Jade stuck out her hand. Flora cupped her hands around Jade's, concealing them. A light shined from in between their fingers and Jade felt a tickle of little claws.

Flora took her hands away gently, revealing a pink baby bird. It was actually quite ugly.

"Feed it some food." Flora whispered. Jade bent down slowly and picked up some feed with her empty hand. She fed the little chirping baby. The baby started growing rapidly. It grew bright orange feathers and a long tail. It opened it's beady black eyes and then flew away.

"Oh no! Did I do something wrong?" Jade bit her lip. She so badly wanted to be an earth element.

"No, no. You did perfect. That bird was supposed to speedily grow if a person with an earth elemental spirit fed it. You, Jade, have an earth element!" Flora smiled.

"Awesome! How do we find out what type of earth element I am?" Jade was so very excited.

"You can follow me to the animal grove. We'll see if you are good with animals." Flora started walked excitedly down a dirt path. She whistled and the birds whistled back. Jade and Flora came to a fruitful clearing with dozens of animals grazing and flying and doing whatever animals do on a beautiful day in July.

"Just go and interact with them." Flora left Jade and to pet a mockingbird. They whistled as if having a conversation. Maybe they were. Jade sat next to a squirrel who was digging around in the ground.

"Hey, little guy." Jade spoke to it. Maybe he would talk back. The squirrel did not talk back, though. It looked right at Jade and twitched his nose. Jade guessed he was scenting her. Maybe it wanted to know her name.

"I'm Jade. What's your name?" Jade asked. The squirrel didn't respond. He turned his head back and then forth in a quick motion. Maybe he didn't have a name, Jade thought.

Jade was not getting anywhere with the squirrel, so she walked over to a doe.

She was grazing peacefully on the lush green grass. Jade had noticed that the entire earth element area was plentiful and green. It made sense, though. The people with the earth element probably practiced their life-giving skills right here.

When Jade got close enough. The doe picked up its head and stared right at her with deep intelligent eyes. Jade froze. The deer was trying to figure out Jade. She cocked her head and twitched her nose, drinking in Jade's scent. Jade timidly stuck her hand out in a gesture for the doe to sniff it like a dog would. The doe cautiously took a whiff of Jade and reacted suddenly. Her eyes widened considerably in surprise. She didn't seem scared, though. More like she was excited.

The doe sprinted off into a denser area of the forest and disappeared. Jade sighed. Maybe animals weren't her thing. Maybe she could grow stuff if she set her mind to it. Jade sat down on the soft bed of grass below her. She set her hand next to a budding pink tulip. Jade closed her eyes tight and breathed in slowly. As she exhaled, Jade thought of her garden at home. She thought of the flowers growing everyday. Then she imagined her flowers growing in less than fifteen seconds.

As Jade cautiously opened her eyes, she looked at the tulip bud. Only now it wasn't a small lonely tulip bud. It was a vivid pink tulip so lush and beautiful Jade gasped. Surrounding the tulip were hundreds of bluebells, indigos, marigolds, and daisies. The amaze did not stop there. The doe she had scared away earlier was back. She had brought a bunch of other animals with her. Chipmunks and rabbits stared in awe at Jade. Birds and butterflies fluttered overhead. A fawn stood by the doe excitedly. Foxes and badgers warily but curiously sniffed at the flowers.

Jade gaped. She didn't know what to think. First the flowers, then the animals. Jade gathered her thoughts and inhaled slowly. She carefully backed away. All of the animals' eyes were trained on her.

"Flora!" Jade whispered without losing eye contact with the doe, hoping her bird-loving friend would know what to do. She heard careful footsteps tread over the flowers. Flora placed her hand on Jade's shoulder.

She spoke in an excited whisper into Jade's ear. "We need to go see Katherine."